This invention is concerned with apparatus for removing the casings of sausages. It is well known that sausages are manufactured as a continuous string, the individual links of the sausages being separated by a ligature or a twisted portion of the continuous tube of casing material within which the meat of the sausage is disposed. After formation of the string of sausages, they are subject to various processes; most commonly they are subject to a curing or smoking process. Thereafter, the individual sausages are separated and one technique for separating sausages which are sold in so-called skinless form is to remove the casings since, the casings being made up of a continuous tube of casing material, removal of that casing will result directly in separation of the individual sausages.
The most commonly adopted technique to this end is to cause the sausages to move, as a string, past a slitting knife which forms a longitudinal slit in the casing and thereafter to cause the string with the slit casing to pass across a perforated wheel, the interior of which is exposed to a vacuum so that the casings are drawn across the wheel as the wheel rotates while the individual sausages pass tangentially beyond the wheel. Typical of such an arrangement is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,995, issued Apr. 11, 1967 to Garey and assigned to Ranger Tool.
A major problem in the industry has been the handling of sausages of different sizes which cover a considerable range.
Another problem is the complexity of the prior art arrangements which has tended to render the disassembly of the equipment for cleaning purposes which, since this is a food handling industry, is extremely important, difficult.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which is effective to peel sausages of considerably different sizes and also to provide an apparatus which is simple and easily disassembled for servicing and cleaning purposes.